So I'm apparently not very good at keeping my blog current...doesn't surprise me, it can take me forever to write back to someone via email. Here's some really cute pictures of my nephew (notice the hole in his sock where is super cute toe is peeking out):

New Kids on the Block

Way back when (about 15 years ago) I was a huge fan of New Kids on the Block. I unfortunately never went to a concert back then. Well I had the chance to go when they got back together and went on tour. I decided that I would re-live my teenage years and go...I was joined by a fellow fan and great friend Melinda, my sister and another friend, Bridget. I had the BEST time...they still have it...I must say that Melinda and I were just a bit crazy. My throat hurts from all the screaming that I did...I got some great pictures and videos. Here are some of the best shots:

I have really cute niece and cute nephews and for the last 2 nights they have been over to play with the aunts and grandparents. I got this really cute picture of the 3 of them enjoying popsicles on the fireplace mantle:

Last night I also got video of the baby singing along with the Beauty and Beast snowglobe:

The kids are so much fun. They make me laugh all the time, even when I shouldn't be laughing. For instance tonight I was out on the patio with the kids and Ryan comes out to chase Christopher. As Ryan was coming around the corner, Lauren said in her sweet little voice, "Daddy your a loser." So I know that I shouldn't have laughed at that, but I couldn't not laugh. I was trying not to, but when your little niece calls your older brother (her dad) a loser it's a little hard to hold it in. When I think about it I still laugh...it's not very nice of me.

Vegas Fun

So this last weekend my family and I went up to Las Vegas. Really really good family friends were going to be there and Vegas is only a 4 hour drive from Phoenix. We decided that it was a good opportunity to see them.

This picture is of me and my best friend growing up, Amy:

I haven't seen her since her wedding which was 6 years ago. Below is a picture with my sister and Amy's husband, Joey:

Below is the whole family (minus Joey, who was taking the picture for us):

It was really good to see them all. Natalie and I joined the MacIntosh's and the Ray's at Cirque de Soleil's Mystere. It was an amazing show and I've now had the chance to watch 2 Cirque shows, and I now want to save up money to go back to Vegas to see Cirque's O and Love. I highly recommend the show if you happen to be up in Vegas and have some money to spend...

So I haven't posted a blog in forever and I don't really have the time right now to give any sorts of updates (I'm a work and should probably not be doing this, but oh well!). But I decided to post this hilarious story a co-worker forwarded to me via email today. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but I still laughed my head off reading it. So here it is:

Pocket Taser Stun Gun, a great gift for the wife. A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Taser for their anniversary submitted this:

Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized Taser. The effects of the Taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety and every woman needs something to protect herself with, right??

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing!

I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!!
Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right?

There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and Taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.
All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5' long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, 'no possible way!'

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best...?

I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as if to say, 'don't do it dummy,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . . HOLY MOTHER OF GOD . . .
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . WHAT THE HECK!!!

I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs?

The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a Taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor.. A three second burst would be considered conservative?

IT HURT LIKE HELL!!!

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace.
The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it
originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still
twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling. Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone.
I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I'm still looking for my testicles and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!!

Okay so I admit I am not the typical girl. If I had to choose between a party and a sporting event, I would 9 times out of 10 choose the sporting event. I just love to watch and play sports. But I found a way that I'm very girlie when I'm watching sports...the fact that I love to appreciate the fine specimen of men that tend to play the sports I love to watch...

If only I had a really good picture from the front so all could fully appreciate. I'm a dork, but I'm a great dork!!!

I have the cutest niece and nephews and tonight we went over to see them before they go on vacation...they were having such a fun time.

Here's another video of the baby imitated how grandma was laughing...with his hand over his face:

Here's 2 really cute pictures of the kids too:

Aren't I just the luckiest aunt!!!

HAPPY DAYS!!!

Happy days are here again!!!!!!!!!! The air conditioner was fixed, no worries about the heat anymore. I'll be able to sleep tonight, I can't WAIT!!

Living in Arizona

I love living in Arizona, but there are a few months out of the year that I question my love for the state...those summer months. It gets so hot that it feels like you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. But there is this wonderful invention called air conditioning that makes life livable in the suffocating heat of summer.

But what happens when your air conditioning stops working...I'll tell you, you feel absolutely miserable. It's even worse when the air conditioning goes out in the evening and you have no air conditioning when you are trying to sleep at night.

Needless to say, my family and I experience this last night. I think I slept about 4 hours overall, not nearly enough sleep to function on. I don't think I have ever been happier to get in my car to go to work this morning because that meant that I got to feel the wonderful cold that a functioning air conditioner creates. If the air conditioner doesn't get fixed today, I'm getting a hotel for the night.

Mixed Emotions

At this particular moment I am experiencing mixed emotions about my favorite team the Boston Red Sox. Yesterday they traded one of the all time best hitters, but he was also one of the BIGGEST primadonna complainers in the game.

I'm just hoping that this trade doesn't kill the Red Sox chances of repeating as World Series Champions.

So as you can see...mixed emotions. I'm glad that he's gone, but I want the Red Sox's to repeat.

Softball Excitement

I just I would share the kind of things that happen to me when I'm playing sports. Almost 3 weeks ago during a softball game I had moved from Pitcher to 3rd Base because the heat had gotten to me (FYI...softball in the summer in Phoenix, not the smartest idea I've every had). While I was at 3rd I managed to take a line drive off the top of my foot (that takes huge amounts of skills people)...Here's day one of the injury:


Here's a few days later:





and this is the week after the injury, after another game of softball (if I was a sane person I probably wouldn't have played):





As much as I don't like having pictures of my foot on my blog, I just thought the color progression was so pretty...

The Blogging Train

So I thought I would get on the blogging train and see where it takes me. We'll see if I'm better and writing on a blog than I ever was in a Journal. I thought for my first post I would express my wish that I didn't have responsibilities and stresses that only come with being an adult.

Take cars for instance, from the time your 16 you dream about owning your own car. What you don't know is all the frustrations that will arise from said car. Take for example flat tires, there not fun and they're a pain to change. If it hadn't been for my wonderful brother I think I would still be trying to get the lug nuts off my tire. I apparently ran over a nail...AGAIN!!! I just had a nail pulled out my tire a few weeks ago and patched up. What are the chances that it would happen again and to the very same tire!!! I have my suspicions that my dealership (no names will be listed here to protect the guilty) didn't really fix it right...